Penrallt Baptist Church

Transcription

1 Penrallt Baptist Church Newsletter: March 2016 (Pontius Pilate 33AD) I suppose I am a naturally curious person, mixed with a mischievous tendency. Cats share similar characteristics. They are curious about anything that moves, and that combined with a mischievous tendency, leads them to play with things smaller than themselves, until their curiosity satisfied, bored, they abandon the object of their attention either dead, or almost so. I suppose this tendency in cats is what makes me ambivalent towards them, when I suspect I would be regarded more highly by some close to me if I were to love them unconditionally! Now fortunately I do not share the sociopathic tendencies of cats, but I do confess to enjoy startling them on occasion. This sometimes takes the form of lobbing a pebble at them, and observing their reaction. If they don t see me lobbing the pebble, they look at it as it lands next to them as if it fell from outer space! I enjoy that very much. (I also enjoy it when it fortuitously lands on some part of their anatomy, sending them pelting off in any random direction!) Someone once said, (I think it was Carl Sagan) Truth is relative to the position of the observer in space. I suppose he had a point if what you are referring to is observational truth. The cat only observes the pebble landing next to it, not me throwing it, so may be excused for thinking it came from outer space! Even though the cat knows I am there, and I am the only one there, and that I am close enough to have thrown the pebble, It seems to fail to deduce that I must have thrown the pebble. If I had thrown the pebble at my wife (God forbid) she would have no problem in deducing that I was the culprit! So as long as my efforts result in near misses, the cat seems not to detect any danger to itself. (That soon changes however when my aim improves!) The point of this is that truth is more than just observation, because we may not see the whole picture. Also truth is not subjective, it is objective. Just because the cat does not see me toss the pebble, does not mean that it must have come from outer space, and just because I missed, does not mean that it is not in jeopardy. A human has the power to deduce these things, a cat does not. Penrallt Baptist Church, Holyhead Road, Bangor LL57 2EU ; office@penrallt.org; Office open Mon Fri 10am - 2pm; Magnus Forrester-Barker Roshni Verghese, 2 Vicarage Close, Llandudno LL30 1PH; / Stephen Burrows, 39 Cil y Graig, Llanfairpwll LL61 5NZ;

2 Pilate s question is couched in cynicism. His life experience (observations relative to his position in the world upbringing) have conditioned him to believe that truth is relative, and conviction is irrational. He fails to use the powers God gave him, and SEE the Truth standing before him. Had he done so, his deductive observation of what his eyes could not see, might have led him to faith. What a tragedy then, that in being cynical about truth, the world fails to see the truth of God, creation, evil, sin, salvation, judgement etc. Perhaps a greater tragedy is that many in the church have become infected with the world s relativism, and peddle the lie that there are many opinions regarding truth, all equally valid, when the word of God clearly teaches that there is only one way to God, and only one ultimate truth, and that is in and through His Son Jesus Christ. (John 14:6) If the salt has lost its saltiness, how will it get it back? From then on it is useless, and only fit to be thrown away and trod into the dirt (Matthew 5:13) The consequence of this relativism is that it negates the Gospel, and leaves people without God as it did Pilate, who had the awesome privilege of having the Word made flesh in front of his very eyes, and yet could not see! God bless, Roger Malone Cytûn (Churches Together in Bangor) will be holding their usual Easter events this year: a Walk of Witness along Bangor High Street on Good Friday (25th March), starting from St. John s Methodist Church at 11am, and an open-air service on Easter Sunday morning at Roman Camp, starting at 7am and followed by breakfast at Penrallt. Penrallt s own preparations for Easter are due to include a communion meal together on the evening of Maundy Thursday (24th March) and a contemplative, prayer based event on Good Friday evening. Details of these are yet to be confirmed.

3 In March we will mostly be taking a break from our morning service sermon series on the Fourth Book of Psalms as we get ready to celebrate Easter. In the evenings we continue our series on Meals with Jesus in the gospels. 6 March 10:30am Speaker: Roger Borlace Shout for joy to the LORD. What, in church? 6:00pm Communion Service Speaker: Neil Rymer Meals are enacted hope The feeding of the March 10:30am Speaker: Ed Kaneen The God in whom we put our trust 6:00pm Speaker: Ken Sykes Meals are enacted mission At the Pharisee s house 20 March (Palm Sunday) 10:30am Communion Service Speaker: Diane Holmes. 6:00pm Speaker: Bob Woods Meals are enacted salvation The Last Supper 28 March (Easter Sunday) 7:00pm Cytûn service at Roman Camp, followed by breakfast at Penrallt 10:30am Family Service led by Geoff Birch 6:00pm Speaker: Roger Borlace Meals are enacted promise The road to Emmaus Ed Kaneen is a Baptist theologian who lectures at the South Wales Baptist College and at Cardiff University; he will also be leading Bible Unzipped on Saturday 12th March. Ken Sykes is a retired Baptist minister who often attends Penrallt for evening services. The other speakers are all members of Penrallt.

4 Tuesday 1 7:30pm Pray for Wales event at Sure Hope Church, Colwyn Bay. Wednesday 2 10:30am 7pm Men s prayer meeting followed by coffee in Options. Prayer ministry training session at Penrallt. Friday 4 1:30pm Women s World Day of Prayer at St John s Methodist Church all welcome (even men!) Saturday 5 3pm Collis Open-House Farewell Party (6 Maes y Dref). 7:30pm Monday 7 7:30pm Deacons Meeting. Worship & prayer ministry event at Penrallt. Saturday 12 9:30am-1pm Bible Unzipped at Rhos on Sea URC. Alpha away-day at Penmaenmawr. Sunday 13 2:45pm Service at Plas Garnedd residential home in Llanberis. Monday 21 10:30am Church walk at Nebo. Thursday 24 Maundy Thursday Communion Meal at Penrallt (details to be confirmed). Friday 25 11am Cytûn Good Friday Walk of Witness down Bangor High Street, starting at St. John s Methodist Church. Congratulations to Trudie and Duncan Tough (and Reuben) on the birth of Rosa Miriam Anne last month. We were saddened by the death of Terry Furnival following a heart attack. Please hold Jan and the family in your prayers. Tony Mason had two bad falls in February. Eileen McKenna is still awaiting confirmation of a date for her operation. We are getting ready to say farewell to Bryan & Anne Collis (and Rebekah) as they move down to South Wales in April after 24 years in Bangor, during which they have played a central role in the life of the local community and of Penrallt. 8 th : Molly Wheatcroft 12 th : Nicola Wheatcroft 13 th : James Howie 14 th : Ted Goodwin 15 th : John Brindley

5 HG = Home Group Day Time Details Contacts Tue 7:30pm HG, Nilgiri Joan Beer (353874) Tue 7:30pm HG Tyddyn Isaf (Menai Bridge) Magnus Forrester-Barker (717570) Wed 2:00pm HG, Carers Carol Morris (208407) Wed 7:30pm HG, Bethesda Jon & Deb Stammers (602868) Wed 7:30pm HG, Nomads Pat & Roger Borlace (713146) Thu 10:30am HG, Llanfairpwll (am) Sue & Lawrence Moss (713793) Thu 7:30pm HG, Llanfairpwll (pm) Sue & Lawrence Moss (713793) Fri 10:30am 12pm Cheeky Monkeys (parent/toddler group) Ceri Walker ( ) Fri 10:30am 12:30pm HG, Maes y Dref Anne Collis (353173) Sat 8:30am Prayer Meeting Advance Notice: Penrallt AGM Church members, please note the change of date in order to avoid both the Easter Holidays and a clash with Alpha. Please make every effort to attend this meeting if possible. Alpha Please note that the Alpha course will be taking a break for Easter for three weeks from Monday 21st March (restarting on Monday 11th April). There will also be an Alpha away-day in Penmaenmawr on Saturday 12th March. Bible Unzipped aims to unpack Scripture with those interested in learning more than can be offered in a Sunday sermon. It also equips those leading in the church with some tools for studying and teaching from the Bible. We meet monthly on the second Saturday morning at Rhos-on-Sea URC from 9:30am to 1pm. Each morning includes three sessions. The course is free. This month the whole morning will be led by Ed Kaneen from South Wales Baptist College (who will also be preaching at Penrallt the following morning and comes warmly recommended by Peter Cousins). Church Lunch Please bring enough buffet style food for yourselves and one or two others.

6 Calling All Teachers! Are you looking for a new job? Would you consider serving abroad? Bingham Academy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is an international Christian school and are desperately looking for recruits. Their needs are outlined on their website ( Susie Smith says it s a great place to teach, with loads of opportunities for creativity and fun. Church Walk We will be walking around the villages of Nebo and Nazareth on one of the Slate Valley Trails. It s a circular walk of 5 miles with an ascent of 400 feet. Please wear suitable shoes as it could be a bit wet in a few places and bring a packed lunch. Meet at 10:30am in the small parking area outside the cemetery just beyond Llanllyfni. Take the A487 towards Porthmadog and turn off at the exit signposted Llanllyfni (also says Rhyd Ddu and Penygroes). Turn right at next roundabout and drive through the village the car park is at the far side on the left hand side. Farewell Celebration Bryan and Anne Collis are hosting an open-house (at 6 Maes y Dref, LL57 1YL) to celebrate the last 24 years and thank everyone who has been part of their lives here in Bangor. The drop-in party starts at 3pm and goes on until late. Pastoral Help If you have issues of concern about your own or someone else s welfare, please contact a member of the Pastoral Care team: Pat Borlace (713146); Adrienne Ferrada; Gwen Hicks; Geoff Moore (410582); Lawrence Moss (713793); Judy Stammers (364394); Helen Thomas (600174). Penrallt on Facebook Did you know that we have a Facebook page? Search for Penrallt Baptist Church. We also have a general group (search for Penrallt, though note that this will also bring up several other pages and groups, many of which are not related to us) as well as our prayer-specific group (unlike the page, you need to join the groups before you can use them). Pray for Penrallt Every Day We believe in prayer and encourage people to pray. You can send prayer request to our electronic diary via office@penrallt.org (there are also prayer cards in the church porch that you can fill in). Better still, you can receive the prayer diary straight to your inbox every Monday (or occasionally on Tuesdays) by ing the office now and requesting to be put on the list. For more immediate and interactive sharing of prayers, search on Facebook for and send a request to join our group.

7 Pray for Wales New Wine Cymru are holding a series of prayer events for our nation on St David s Day. The North Wales event will be at Sure Hope Church, Colwyn Bay ( Abergele Road, Old Colwyn LL29 9YF). Rough Sleepers The church s policy is not to give money directly to the rough sleepers in Upper Bangor. Be warned that some of them can be aggressive. You will find brown envelopes in the porch for a gift that will buy meal vouchers which are distributed to rough sleepers by the Cathedral. Sunday Afternoon Services We visit residential homes in the area once a month on a Sunday afternoon, alternating between Haulfre (in Llangoed, on Anglesey, starting at 2:15pm) and Plas Garnedd (in Llanberis, starting at 2:45pm), usually on the first Sunday. This month we are due to visit Plas Garnedd on Sunday 13th March (NB this is a week later than usual). Women s World Day of Prayer Bangor s English language Women s World Day of Prayer service this year will be held at St John s Methodist Church. Women s World Day of Prayer is an international, interchurch, organisation which enables us to hear the voices of women, from a different part of the world each year, expressing their hopes and concerns and bringing them before the rest of the world in prayer. On Friday 4th March an estimated 3 million people, in over 170 countries, will gather to observe the day of prayer, using an order of service written by Christian women in Cuba and translated into over 60 languages and 1000 dialects. In the British Isles alone over 6,000 services will be held. The day will begin when the sun rises over the island of Samoa, and continue until it sets off the coast of American Samoa some 35 hours later. The theme of the service this year is, Receive children, Receive me. Come and join us as we pray with the women of Cuba. All are welcome to attend the service, men, women and children of all ages. Refreshments will be provided. There will also be a service in Welsh at Penuel, starting at 2pm. Worship and Prayer Ministry On Saturday 5th March, we are going to be hosting an evening of worship and prayer ministry in the Chapel. Starting at 7:30pm, we will be coming together in worship, hearing from Deb Stammers and receiving the Holy Spirit through praying for one another. In preparation for this event, and for more general prayer ministry, there will be a training session (the final one in a series of 3) on Wednesday 2nd March at 7pm.

8 Focus on Home Mission Home Mission is all about helping Baptist churches and individuals to reach their mission potential and bring the love of God to their communities. This happens through grants given to support a variety of ministries in and through Baptist churches and chaplains across the country. Penrallt contributes around 4% of our income (or slightly less than 4000 a year) to the work of Home Mission. They are also on our Missions Group s prayer list. Geographically, the closest Home Mission supported church to us is Holyhead English Baptist Chapel, led by our friend the Revd. Clive Alder. They were involved in a Wales-wide mission event called Love Wales, which took place last summer. This was mostly based in South Wales but had a few outposts here in North Wales. Holyhead Baptist worked together with Holyhead Elim Pentecostal Church to run a week of community events during the days and evangelistic meetings in the evenings. There were a number of responses both to the call to follow Jesus and for physical and emotional healing. Since then there have been further contacts with a number of the people who were met that week. You can find more information about Holyhead Baptist and other groups and projects supported by Home Mission in the North West region in the booklets that were left by Phil Jump (our Regional Minister) when he visited Penrallt in January. A few copies are still left in the church porch and you are welcome to take one. For a broader overview of the work of Home Mission across the UK you may like to look at some of the video stories available at Please pray for Home Mission, giving thanks for the good work for God s kingdom that is achieved through this organisation and praying for continued wisdom in the use of their resources.